Apple Tart by Poilâne

Renowned for its famous and widely sold bread, the Poilâne house is also home to a few pastry classics of interest to Cake Justice. We take a look at the Apple Tart, another house specialty, whose unusual shape departs from conventional tarts. A little treat enjoyed on the go…

This pastry is composed simply of apple chunks nestled in the middle of a flaky pastry dough, whose edges have been wrapped inwards and sprinkled with brown sugar.

The Apple Tart by Poilâne has a diameter of 105mm and a height of 35mm. The specimen we purchased weights 120 grams and costs 2.65€.

A smell of cooked apples emanates from the tart. The flaky pastry which dominates its composition is well developed, and crumbles at the lightest touch. Nicely golden on the outside without being burnt or dry, its flaky layers are discernible even underneath the apple topping – a particularly rare and noteworthy feat in this type of tart. As expected, it is nevertheless increasingly less cooked as we go from the outside towards the inside. The dough, which is not sweetened at all, is sprinkled in places with brown sugar, thus adding a touch of crunch on the tongue.

The apples nestled at the heart of the pastry are sufficiently cooked to have softened, while still retaining the fruit’s texture. They are pleasingly not very sweet, but also disappointingly sparse. The applesauce which we were expecting to find underneath the apple chunks, based on the specifications given us in the shop, is nowhere to be found.

VERDICT

The Apple Tart by Poilâne is a barely sweet dessert, but one whose simplicity and originality – with its shape and folded pastry edges – does not fail to please. The flaky pastry dough is indeed the star of the show, well layered not just on the edges but also beneath the topping – something which is unfortunately rather rare in this type of pastry. This Apple Tart as it stands does not require any additional elements, but we would nevertheless have appreciated a greater quantity of apples, so as to counterbalance the amount of flaky dough present.